No. 18 Penn State improves to 5-0 in dominant offensive showing

There is no such thing as an easy opponent. Even though the St. Thomas Tommies only have one win and are unranked, the No. 18 Penn State Nittany Lions knew that they had to play quality hockey.

Three goals in the second period propelled Penn State to a 6-2 win.

The start was not ideal for Penn State. The first 10 minutes were very sloppy and the Nittany Lions had a tough time neutralizing St. Thomas's speed.

The Lions also failed to capitalize on two power play chances, which only generated one shot. Furthermore, the Tommies had two short-handed opportunities due to the amount of shots they blocked. Liam Souliere was up to the task when the Tommies had those high-danger chances. He finished the night with 19 saves.

The best chance for Penn State came near the end of the first period when Danny Dzhaniyev passed the puck to a wide open Ben Schoen in the slot, but Tommies goaltender Aaron Trotter slid across to make the save.

Eventually, Penn State found its offense. Freshman Alex Servagno, who was listed as the extra skater in Thursday's contest, stole the puck behind the net and tossed it out in front to Ture Linden at the 5:28 mark of the first period. Servagno's assist was his first colligate point. He was given the "Thor Hammer", which is handed out after every win in the locker room.

"He really was a catalyst to start off an unbelievable forecheck for the goal and then a couple of big blocks and a couple big back-checks," head coach Guy Gadowsky said. "The team really, really appreciated that."

Penn State had complete control in the second period. The Lions out-shot the Tommies 22-3 in the middle frame.

Penn State focused on playing aggressive on the forecheck and it payed off. Simon Mack got the scoring started shooting through a screen at the 14:14 mark to make it 2-0. The tally marked his first career goal.

"He’s an elite skater," Gadowsky said. "He's always been really effective because of his feet both offensively and defensively. But I think he showed a lot more initiative shooting the puck and jumping in tonight."

A minute later, Dylan Gratton shot a puck through a plethora of bodies and it deflected off of Connor MacEachern and into the net. 40 seconds after the MacEachern tally, Schoen found a loose puck in front of the net and potted home the rebound making it a 4-0 game. His line of Dzhaniyev and Tyler Gratton started the game for Penn State and combined for six points.

St. Thomas struggled to clear the puck out of its own end because of the Penn State pressure. The top line converted for the fifth goal of the game thanks to terrific puck movement in the offensive zone. Jimmy Dowd Jr., received a drop pass from Linden and found an open Ryan Kirwan in the slot at the 8:56 mark.

The Tommies added a late goal with .4 seconds left on the clock and eventually cut the deficit to 5-2 on a defensive zone turnover.

Dzhaniyev scored two minutes after the St. Thomas goal on an odd-man rush to cap off a two point night.

"It was long overdue," Dzhaniyev said. "To finally get that first one felt great. I think just in general, just been playing a good game especially with [Schoen] on my line and then the addition of [Gratton] has been awesome."

Power play, powerless: Penn State's power play was lifeless. St. Thomas had given up six power-play goals going into Thursday. Last year, Penn State allowed 17 odd-man rushes on the power play. While Gadowsky does not expect his group to give up that many again, it was disappointing to see the man-advantage unit come up empty.

"Today we didn't really seem like it was a big priority," Gadowsky said. "That was a disappointing part that we sort of were relaxing in that area."

Fearless forecheck: The Tommies simply could not break free of the Penn State forecheck. The Nittany Lions had numerous high-danger scoring opportunities in the slot because of how tenacious the forwards were on pucks. Penn State has to continue to play that style of hockey, especially heading into Big Ten play.

Shooters shoot: Penn State totaled 51 shots on goal, with the majority coming in the second period. This was the second time Penn State hit the 50-shot mark this season. It had 51 in Game 2 of the Mercyhurst series. Getting as many shots to the opposing goaltender has always been this team's identity. Trotter did everything he could to keep the Tommies in the game.

Game 2 of the series kicks off tomorrow at Pegula Ice Arena.